Students are returning to the FSI VUT buildings in Brno after the renovation

Brno - Life is returning to the building of the Brno Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, which was long the tallest building in the city, after five years of renovations. The reconstruction cost 621 million Czech crowns. The investment became more expensive due to structural defects in the building, which is 74 meters high. Most of the resulting amount was provided for the construction by the Ministry of Education. This was stated today by representatives of the Brno University of Technology. A study department is already operational in the building, about half of the faculty has been relocated, and laboratories will move during the summer.

The cost of the repairs was more than three times higher than planned. "The reconstruction was initiated due to the need to restore the outer façade and the internal technical equipment. However, during this process, serious defects in the load-bearing columns of the building were identified that needed to be remedied," said the head of the Construction Technical Department, Petr Marvan. In addition to the outer façade, the originally planned reconstruction included the replacement of the single-pipe heating system. The high-rise building was very energy-intensive, which is why a renovation was necessary. After the renovation, photovoltaic panels appeared on the southern side of the building, which can supply energy to the faculty complex.

The more than 70-meter-high A1 building has new ceilings in the hallways and a new lighting system, where individual lights turn on based on people's movements. "Given that building A1 constitutes about half of the teaching and office space of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, teaching and faculty activities are finally returning to normal after several years," said the faculty dean, Jaroslav Katolický.

The reconstruction of the high-rise building is one of the major construction projects on the VUT campus under Palackého Hill. Along with the completion and reconstruction of the Faculty of Chemical Engineering and FEKT buildings and the construction of research centers AdMaS of the Faculty of Civil Engineering and especially CEITEC VUT, the reconstruction of building A1 is part of extensive investments in this area totaling nearly four billion Czech crowns.

The construction of the 74-meter high Faculty of Mechanical Engineering building began in 1975 and lasted ten years. It was the tallest building in Brno until spring 2013, when the construction of Spielberk Tower B reached 85 meters. Later, the AZ Tower skyscraper, standing at 111 meters, became the tallest building in the city and the entire country.

The VUT high-rise building has a capacity of 1,600 people. The building has 19 floors. During the reinforcement of the load-bearing structures, builders used 482 tons of steel and 80 tons of concrete. During the reconstruction, 140 kilometers of electrical installation cables were laid. Nine institutes will gain facilities in the building.